In mobile communication networks, significant signaling load can occur during the delivery of messages to mobile devices. The signaling load can in particular occur in the core network of a mobile communication network. The core network is the central part of the mobile communication network that provides various services to mobile devices in particular for the subscribers and users of the mobile devices. The core network is connected to several access networks, which provide access to the mobile communication network for the mobile devices.
When delivering of a message, the message is received at a switch center of the core network. For gathering the needed routing information to deliver the message, the switch center sends an interrogation request to a database of the core network, in which database subscriber information of the subscribers of the mobile communication network are stored. For instance, to deliver the message, the switch center needs to know via which access network the message can be delivered to the mobile device, which is the recipient of the message. Therefore, the database of the core network provides information regarding the entity of an access network, via which the mobile device is connected to the mobile communication network.
The significant load in the core network by these interrogation requests to get the routing information needed by a switch center to deliver a message is based on two factors: the first is the amount of messages to be delivered and the second one is the amount of tries, which are needed for the delivery of the message. The message cannot be delivered via the access network to the mobile device, if for instance the mobile device is turned off or is out of the coverage area of the access network. In this case, the message needs to be redelivered, whereby to get the needed routing information for delivering the message, the switch center of the core network sends another interrogation request to the subscriber database to get the needed information. If a mobile device is for instance turned off for several hours, the switch center tries to redeliver the message in short time intervals so that massive amount of signaling load can occur in the core network.
Given the fact that several million of mobile device are operated in a mobile communication network, the signaling load can be immense.
Regarding the aforementioned prior art it is the technical object of the invention to provide a solution, which reduces the signaling load in a mobile communication network, which is caused by delivering a message to a mobile device in the mobile communication network.